Noivern: Another month, another Member of the Month! Today I'm sitting with Tahixham, author of the work in progress hack Super Mario: Daisy's Kidnapping. Tahixham handled some of these interviews in 2014 and 2015 and was himself interviewed for Staff Spotlight even earlier than that in 2013. You can read the older (and rather brief) interview
here.
Noivern: How does it feel to be back on that side of the interview table?
Tahixham: Uhh weird I feel like I should be asking you the questions!
Noivern: I do not want to answer questions
Tahixham: But how did you find SMW Central? The world is dying to know?!
Noivern:
Noivern: Let's first go into a little detail about the hack. Super Mario: Daisy's Kidnapping was started rather recently according to post dates, not even two months ago. But obviously it was already in production before then. How much work did you put into the hack before you made the WIP thread?
Tahixham: Maybe like... a month? I had spent a huge amount of time beforehand sorting out stuff like patches to work together and behave, getting the overworld done, the intro/hub level and then got myself a few levels designed before I actually posted anything. I wanted to be sure I was actually going to commit to working on the hack before I shared it with the community.
Noivern: What makes Super Mario: Daisy's Kidnapping stand out among the other projects in the work in progress forum?
Tahixham: Uhm I don't really think anything to be honest. Like, there's definitely other cool hacks out there like WYE's one and Golden Yoshi's Hack 5 so I wouldn't say it stands out. Just fits in. Although I've personally always wanted to pull together a hack that feels just like a modern Mario game, with all the new features like wall kicking and fancy powerups. I've tried a few times before but due to various reasons never succeeded. Though that was a few years ago. I think now, with the advances we've made with tools, SA1 etc., I should succeed! It's the sort of hack I've always looked to play too - so I'm sort of filling a personal void too, so to speak.
Noivern: So what all features are you running here? I see wall jumps, ground pounds, a mini mushroom as well as other powerups, am I missing anything? How does access to all these different abilities change how you approach the level design?
Tahixham: One thing I wanted to make sure of was that every feature I put in is actually useful to the gameplay. Such as the ground pound - I wasn't even sure whether I was going to implement it as it was a case of "if I can't make the ? blocks and brick blocks work with it, it's not going in". As seen by GIFs:
Tahixham: With level design - it actually opens up a load of new possibilities (and caveats too though). When you would normally be able to access something, say by finding a springboard, if the player can just wall kick up there you've ruined the puzzle (rough example - don't item babysit kids!)
Noivern: It's confirmed, whenever you add items to a level everything breaks.
Noivern: The structure of the hack allows for the initial six worlds to be accessed in any order, but afterwards when you travel to the final world, you're trapped there until you beat the game. What is the purpose behind this mechanic?
Tahixham: Well, you can get out but you just gotta beat Bowser first! It's more of a plot element, if anything. The ship has enough power from the Power Stars to get across the Lava Seas but not back - Bowser has the last power star. Imagine it like the elite four in Pokemon.
Noivern: What inspired you to use mainly SMB3 graphics?
Tahixham: Because I don't care to draw my own.
Noivern:
Tahixham: Nah, but I wanted to keep it familiar. Plus, there's a huge amount of resources either on SMWC or our affiliates for tilesets, sprite graphics etc that all work well together in a SMB3 style. And also, I went for that style because there were some cool SMB3 styled powerup graphics by a user called
AwesomeZack at MFGG which I wanted to use - and they took some time to implement!
Noivern: About how far into the hack are you right now? Do you think you'll have something ready by C3 maybe?
Tahixham: Wait when is C3?
Noivern: Not until early July. You have plenty of time.
Tahixham: Hmm - well, I had thought of like a demo but I'm unsure. Maybe when I have worlds 1-4 done and if the timing falls well - maybe a C3 demo!!
Noivern: This isn't a question, I just wanted to say how much I love the Spikes you posted in a recent update:
Noivern:They look like they came straight out of the NSMB series.
Tahixham: Ah yeah - I was playing NSMBU and I thought they were cool! It was actually the first sort of custom sprite thing I made and put together for the hack
Noivern: It's been a long time since you've released a hack, and all of your finished hacks to date have been pretty short. What got you back into hacking SMW, and with a multi-world gig no less?
Tahixham: I last released a hack in 2013 and I've made several attempts since. I usually get caught up with a load of bugs that I don't know how to fix. What got me back into it was a mixture of boredom, and Lunar Magic 3.0. The new large levels looked fun and I wanted to have a play with that feature. It's not that I can't commit to making a full hack as such, but I usually can't do what I'm trying to do so give up. However! So far, with this one I've been pretty much bug-free or at least, been able to fix them. So we're doing well. Plus I was like... 13-16 when I made those hacks released so don't play them.
Noivern: Sure thing. I also absolutely definitely won't link them here. Of course not.
Tahixham: Well, 10/10 top notch level design right here though
Noivern: Truly competing with the greats...
Tahixham: Basically, Brutal Mario-league hacking.
Noivern: Let's turn the questions over to you, personally. This is Member of the Month, after all.
Noivern: How has life been treating you lately?
Tahixham: Oh no. Fine really, I have no complaints. I live a fairly boring and average life really so that's that.
Tahixham: How has life been treating YOU Noivern?
Noivern: Listen here Buddy
Noivern: Do you play hacks? What hack is your favorite?
Tahixham: Sometimes, but I never tend to finish them because playing them makes me want to work on my own. Favourite hack though? Probably SMW 2+3 The Essence Star - I can remember playing that fully when it was first released back in the day! Truly enjoyed it!
Noivern: Could you imagine what any of the commonly accepted "great" hacks could do with square levels? That would be amazing,
Tahixham: That would be interesting. But who knows - in five year's time we'll regard a whole host of new hacks as "greats" too, featuring square levels.
Noivern: Man I really hope so.
Noivern: Outside of hacking, do you have a hobby? What do you do for fun?
Tahixham: That is kinda the hobby lol. Although I do enjoy playing simulation/creative games like The Sims and Planet Coaster if anyone on SMWC has played any of those
Noivern: oh boy
Noivern: Which Sims is the good Sims?
Tahixham: The Sims 4 no questions. But Sims 2 close second. Never played 1 and skipped most of 3. And I skipped three because I didn't like it really
Noivern: Personally I just liked to build the houses, actually managing the sims themselves was boring.
Noivern: What kind(s) of music do you listen to?
Tahixham: I'm actually more of a modern, whatever is playing in the charts sort of guy. I don't go out of my way to listen to music as such, but it's usually in the background at home or in the car.
Noivern: Anything you're listening to right now?
Tahixham: No because it's late and other people in the house are trying to sleep
Noivern: Since it's late perhaps we should wrap up this interview, no? So, one last question.
Noivern: Have you always been blatantly copying my level design???????
Noivern: this is uncool man
Tahixham: Yes. Always. In fact, I've plagiarized my entire hack from yours so you should feel flattered.
Noivern: I'm gonna demand an author credit if this keeps up...
Tahixham: I'm not crediting anyone, that's the art of plagiarism
Noivern: I'm calling Nintendo
Tahixham: I already called them they're cool with it
Noivern: Anyway this has been a pretty fun interview, thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to do it.
Tahixham: That's OK! Thanks for having me. 23:33 is far too late for me to be up though so if I oversleep in the morning I'll blame u